1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to capture and recording of unpredictable realtime events. More particularly, the present invention relates to capturing video or audio recordings of realtime events by means of a triggered solid state electronic recording device for electronically recording video images and/or sound for a continuously progressing defined time period that becomes fixed upon the detection of a triggering event.
2. State of the Art
There are a wide variety of events, both natural and man-caused, which are difficult to record in real time because they are difficult or impossible to predict. Such events include, for example, a lightening strike, an accident, the jump of a fish in a pond, a meteor, an avalanche, an earthquake, weather events, a robbery or other crime event, a sudden comment or statement of someone nearby, a gunshot, an explosion, low flying aircraft, an excessively noisy automobile, and so forth. These events are difficult to record because they are usually sudden or unexpected.
There are methods of making audio and video recordings of some of these types of events. For example, banks and other businesses routinely use video surveillance in case of robbery or other emergencies. Commercial airliners incorporate cockpit voice and data recorders. Police cruisers frequently contain video cameras. However, the current methods generally involve placing recording means near the expected site of the event, and continuously recording for an extended period of time until the event occurs. For extremely widespread events, such as earthquakes or accidents, this approach is impractical and costly, because it requires continual maintenance, support, and supervision of the recording equipment over a long period of time. For other applications, such as in automobiles, the required equipment may be impractically bulky or unsightly, or require excessive maintenance.
Traditional methods are also cumbersome and expensive due to the amount of storage media required, even when newer solid state imaging technology is employed. For example, in the case of security surveillance, current methods involve placing a video camera and recorder in a particular location and then frequently changing tapes, disks, or memory cards. Tapes and disks are bulky to store, and memory cards for solid state imaging systems are typically the most expensive component. Then, once the event occurs, significant effort is usually required to review the entire recording--perhaps many hours or days long--to locate the desired event. This is true even with devices that incorporate recording loops that continuously record over the same portion of recording media or memory. Furthermore, traditional surveillance devices require a person to physically see or otherwise become aware that the event has occurred in order to retrieve the tape, disc, or other storage media and search for the recorded event. Consequently, typical surveillance cameras cannot be left totally alone.
The need for a simple, reliable, and inexpensive method for recording real time events is clearly demonstrated in the context of automobile accidents. Thousands of automobile accidents occur every day, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and personal injuries, and billions of dollars in property damage and health care costs each year. As a result, excessive resources are spent every year on insurance claims, investigations, and litigation. Many of these cases involve detailed and expensive accident reconstruction in an attempt to determine what actually happened. In the end, the determinations are often inconclusive.
Everyone involved would benefit greatly if there were a device that recorded actual sound or video footage of the few seconds just before and/or after an unexpected event, such as a collision, including an image of the actual moment of impact. Normally only a few relevant frames of image data are required to fully characterize an accident. Thus, only a small amount of image data would be extremely valuable. Such a device would be of great benefit to accident investigations, and greatly clarify the accident with respect to insurance claims and litigation, and also help prevent insurance fraud. Medical doctors may also gain a better idea of what happened from such a device, and be more aware of what injuries they should look for.
There are also many times when it would be desirable to have sudden or unexpected aural events or information recorded for immediate replay. For example, at times it may be desirable to have a paging announcement, names, telephone numbers, instructions, verbal agreements, or other messages repeated, but it may be embarrassing or impossible to do so. For hearing impaired persons in particular, some of these situations are especially common. To solve these problems it would be helpful to have a device allowing immediate selective recall of previous time periods of sound.
For these and other similar realtime events there is a genuine need for a practical, simple, inexpensive, convenient, and reliable method of capturing sudden or unexpected occurrences. Such a recording device may be advantageously triggered by the event itself, and create an audio or video recording of some desired window of time surrounding the event. In other cases, it would be desirable for the device to be selectively triggered by the user. Before the apparatus is triggered, the window of recorded time progressively advances, and upon occurrence of the event or selective triggering of the device, the window becomes fixed, the event is recorded, and recording stops until the device is reset, allowing downloading of the data from the device to means for perceiving it such as a computer or video monitor.